The number and popularity of wireless communications devices in use continues to rise rapidly all over the world. Not only have cellular telephones become very popular, but Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) devices have also proliferated. One standard for wireless networking, which has been widely accepted, is the Specification of the Bluetooth System, v. 1.0 (“Bluetooth Specification”). The Bluetooth Specification enables the creation of small personal area networks (PAN's), where the typical operating range of a device is 100 meters or less. In a Bluetooth system, Bluetooth devices sharing a common channel sequence form a piconet. Two or more piconets co-located in the same area, with or without inter-piconet communications, is known as a scatternet.
The Bluetooth Specification supports voice communications between Bluetooth enabled devices. When a pair of Bluetooth devices support voice communication, the voice communications must be wirelessly supported in a continuous fashion so that carried voice signals are of an acceptable quality. Unexpected gaps, e.g., dropped packets, on the wireless link between supported Bluetooth devices causes degradation in the voice communication resulting in popping, static, or other unpleasant audible event. This problem is especially troublesome with Bluetooth devices since, in some operations, the communication link will regularly drop packets that carry the voice signals.
A further shortcoming of such operations relates to the manner in which packetized audio data is transmitted between Bluetooth devices. Consider an operation in which a first Bluetooth device transmits packetized audio data to a second Bluetooth device for presentation to a user. Because the Bluetooth WLAN supports data rates greatly in excess of those required for satisfactory voice service, each transmission from the first Bluetooth device carries a relatively large amount of packetized audio data. The duration of this transmission is typically small compared to the duration over which the second Bluetooth device will present the packetized audio data (carried in the transmission) to the user. Thus, the second Bluetooth device buffers the received packetized audio data and presents the packetized audio data (in a converted form) over an appropriate time period. However, if the packetized audio data stored in the input buffer is fully consumed prior to receipt of another transmission from the first Bluetooth device, it will appear to the second Bluetooth device that packetized audio data is lost (or severely delayed), and the second Bluetooth device will provided degraded audio to the serviced user.
Still another limitation relates to the manner which Bluetooth devices service voice communications. In most cases, the Bluetooth device is simply a replacement for a wired headset. Such a use of the Bluetooth device, while providing benefits in mobility of the user, provides little additional benefit over wired devices. Because other wireless solutions provide many of the benefits that current Bluetooth devices provide in servicing voice communications, the needs for the complexities of the Bluetooth specification are questioned.
Thus, there is a need for improved operations by WLAN devices servicing voice communications that provide additional user functionality and improved service quality.